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Applied Psychology

The Applied Psychology program at SIU is an eclectic combination of industrial/ organizational psychology and applied social psychology for students who seek careers in business and industry, government, not-for-profit organizations, independent consulting, and academic careers. The program provides training in statistics and applied social science research methodology, program evaluation, and organizational consulting, as well as traditional academic research. A central feature of the Applied Psychology program is our in-house, nationally acclaimed consulting firm, Applied Research Consultants, run by students.

Features of the Applied Psychology Program

Applied Research Consultants (ARC). ARC is a hands-on training experience that is unique to SIU’s Applied Psychology program. ARC is a student-staffed consulting program, and affords students opportunities to gain valuable experience in needs assessment, survey design, data analysis, and report writing. Visit the ARC website for more information.

Specializations: Each student proposes his or her own specialization plan, which allows a student to develop expertise in a psychology-related area. The specialization will reflect a student's career and dissertation interests, and knowledge in the specialization will be developed through coursework, readings, and independent study. See a list of recent specializations.

Financial Assistance: We offer substantial support, guaranteed to all first-year students and historically available throughout a student’s four years on campus. Students in good standing can anticipate receiving a stipend and a tuition waiver, and all students complete training assignments as teaching or research assistants or in an externship. For more information, see Financial Assistance page.

Research Training: We offer solid training in basic and applied research. The program operates on an elective-mentor system: that is, students may choose to work primarily with one faculty member throughout their graduate career, but they are also free to complete the M.A. thesis with one faculty member and the dissertation with another, while participating in research activities with other faculty. The Applied faculty themselves represent a very broad range of interests. Students are encouraged and receive travel funds to present research at conferences and to become involved in the publication process.

Teaching: Students have a variety of opportunities to develop teaching and presentation skills. Most students will have at least one training assignment as a teaching assistant. Further opportunities include class presentations, formal thesis and dissertation research presentations, conference presentations, and teaching Psychology courses

Atmosphere: Faculty and students are proud of the program’s collegial and supportive atmosphere. We seek to maintain high academic and professional standards, while being responsive to the goals, strengths, and needs of individual students. In general, students report experiencing the program as being highly facilitative of their professional development.

Applied Faculty

Eric Jacobs, Associate Professor and Director of BCS Program (cross-appointed with Brain & Cognitive Science); Acting Program Director, Applied Program